Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment) Order 2008

I shall say a little more about bending a straight-bladed sword. That would fall under this legislation because it is manufacture. Once the person concerned curves the sword, it would constitute manufacture of a weapon of more than 50 centimetres in length. However, we need to think about the noble Lord’s broader point about straight swords of more than 50 centimetres. The noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, raised it as well. These matters are under constant review. We will consult on historical re-enactment; it is currently a defence to use such weapons for historical re-enactments. I have not come across historical re-enactments with samurai swords, but one obviously does with others. It is clear that any of the curved-type cavalry swords would fall into that category, for example. We will review that. I think that I have covered all the key points. The main aim of the order is to make communities safer. I reiterate the sad fact that it is people who kill people, but I am afraid that they get egged on by their weapons, which are meant to be very exciting for them—partly because of the opportunities they have in their lives—but are extremely dangerous to others. It therefore makes great sense to withdraw and keep out of their clutches weapons that make it easy to kill someone. Samurai swords fall within that category. The order is about making communities safer—I know that all of us agree with that—but, equally, it is about letting law-abiding people in this country do things which they have done over generations, such as collecting and re-enactments. The order will allow that to happen, and I commend it to the Committee.